A Trip to the CAB Office

I went with my Wife to the Citizens Advice Bureau during the walk in time from 9-3.30. I have never been to the CAB office before and I can now see why I could not get through on the phone as it is very busy. I basically spent about two hours there but most of that was waiting. I eventually saw a person who had experience with DLA and PIP and basically said I was on the right track. He gave me some extra printed material to help with the descriptors. I have noticed in the new PIP application since the last time I filled in a DLA application that there are now more hoops to jump through all designed to catch me out no doubt. It just gets to me sometimes because it is just about money and no one is going to come round to help me. The thing is after you have a head injury after so many years that you never see the head injury consultants anymore and you just have to try and get on with your life and if you need anything you have to go through the GP. I received another brown letter today saying that they had no medical notes from my existing DLA claim, thus putting more pressure on me. I am thinking of digging out my old reports from the head injury consultant from 20 odd years ago and copying them as evidence to prove this injury actually happened and I still have effects of it now. Oh well.

Your [Lifetime] Disabilty Living Allowance is Ending.

I had a really nice letter from the DWP before Christmas saying that my DLA is ending. I knew I was going to get the dreaded brown envelope from hell at some point and now I have got it. I have felt for a long time that the Government want to take as many benefits from people as possible. Whatever I think about it I now have to deal with it. I am worried if I lose DLA about what impact to other benefits if I do not have a DLA proof of benefit letter. Am I just going to disappear as a person with a disabilty?. Hey isn't that what the Government want for all these benefit claimants to disappear?. I thought it would be easy to ring up and ask for them to send me the form where I will have to virtually write my life story. However it was not that easy as they do everything over the phone. I phoned up the number and went through the options and I got to speak to one of the robots of the DWP who sounded like they were reading everything from a computer screen. I found it very weird. I also found some of the questions stupid like do they want to use information used in my current DLA claim included. They said after I fill in my form I may have to go to a medical so I said I can't wait having been to medicals for Incapacity benefit before. I now have the 40 page form PIP About Your Claim and I plan to get help from the Citizens Advice Bureau. However I may have to go to there office in town as when I phoned up I gave up as I was 16th in the queue. I have about 3 weeks to get this form done so here goes.